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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. present — the time now
  3. stock — shares
  4. bound — tied together
  5. track — a path
  6. bound — obliged
  7. stock — goods
  8. ground — crushed
  9. track — a song
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. present — there
  12. present — a gift
  13. bound — certain
  14. spring — a coil
  15. shower — rain
  16. cold — not warm
  17. track — to keep track
  18. ground — a position
  19. ground — the earth
  20. cold — an illness
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. spring — of water
  23. shower — to wash
  24. stock — a soup base

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com